Two In The Think Tank - The Fine Cotton Scandal - Do Go On Mini

Episode Date: June 9, 2020

It was one of the most controversial events in Australian horse racing history: involving an impostor horse, a record betting plunge and a motley crew of colourful racing identities. This week we are talking about the Fine Cotton Scandal!This is the podcast version of episode three of our new web series that we made with Stupid Old Studios. You can watch the video of the episode complete with animations, props and lots and lots of regret face right now on The Stupid Old Channel YouTube page (link below).Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aPz94Ohvuv4 Subscribe for more episodes.Our website: dogoonpod.comSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30pm, come along, come one, come all, and get tickets at doogawonpod.com. At Nordstrom, you can shop the best holiday gifts for everyone you love.

All in one place. You'll find beauty favorites, cozy presents, fun ideas under 100 and more. Like festive dressing for you in your home, experience the magic at your favorite store. Or order on Nordstrom.com with free shipping and returns. Need it faster? Pick up your order today in store. The best gifts are yours at Nordstrom. This episode is brought to you by Progressive.

Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Multitask right now. Quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates, National Average 12 Month Savings of $744 by New Customer Surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential Savings will vary. Discount is not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to

consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career and a rewarding field with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including the GI Bill. Now is the time, can I call it a Minnesota? Oh, I love that Minnesota. Oh, you are about to hear. Oh, yes.

Delicious. Minnesota. And this is the audio taken from episode three of our web series that you can watch for free right now on the stupid old YouTube channel, which we will link in the description of this episode. And it definitely works as a podcast, just like all our other episodes.

But if you wanna see it in its full glory, full D's, full high definition, our faces, a library, some animations, some sound effects, and some Dave. Yes, you can see the full D stands for Dave. You can click the link in the description of this episode, but otherwise you can just hear the audio of it and definitely works as a podcast.

And Matt, what are we about to hear this week? It's all about the darkest day in Australian racing, the fine cotton scandal. It's a pretty wild story. It's a wild ride. We probably didn't need to say anymore because we're about to tell you all about it in this episode. Yeah, totally.

So check it out along with all the other episodes that we've put up on the Stupid Old YouTube channel. But apart from that, sit back and enjoy. It was one of the most controversial events in Australian horse racing history, involving an imposter horse, a record betting plunge, and a motley crew of colorful racing identities. This week week I'm talking about the fine cotton scandal. Hi I'm Matt Stewart. This is Jess Perkins. That is David Hornicky. Hello.

Hey, thanks so much for joining me in my bedroom. Thank you. You don't have a bed. No, no, I never sleep. Wait, if I do, I do it sitting and reading. So if I nod off, please poke me with a stick today. You excited about this? I'm so excited. Are you familiar?

I love a scandal. Great. You know, I love drama. Yes. I love golfers. Yes. You know, I love drama. Yes. I love gothsass. Yes. I love tick tick. Tock. Can I just say that I love cotton? So what kind of cotton? Whatever this is. Fine cotton. Well done. Thank you. So let me take you back. Please. Are you hypnotising us? Yes. I was telling you this story. I'm telling you a story in hypnotic form. Cool. On the 18th of August 1984, good year.

The second novice handicap was run at the Eagle Farm Race Course in Brisbane, Australia. The following day, the newspapers would call this, Racing's Darkest Day. Oh, was it a bit cloudy? It was very overcooked. Oh, no. Couldn't say who won. Yeah. It was very over-cut. Oh, no. Couldn't see who won.

Yeah. It was a race-only horses who had limited to no success were eligible. And even amongst this ordinary company, a horse named Fine Cotton was a rank outsider. So it's a horse race for losers. Yeah. Oh, it's like a participation award.

Totally. For horse racing. Yeah, there's lots of levels. So you know, the group ones, like the big race at Melbourne cups and stuff, and then it goes all the way down. There's levels for full on battlers. But what's the stop you from pretending to be shit?

And then on race day, oh, I'm fire lap. I think you can do that once, but as soon as you've had it, like there's maidens, a race that only horses and never one can enter. So you can do that once, I guess. But you'd have to pretend to suck for a while. I mean, that's actually been my plan,

this my whole life. But then what's the prestige of winning the race for losers? Winning? Good point. That's a good point, I don't know. Good point, well, mate. Rather win the race for losers than lose the race for winners. Yeah.

That is your kind of vibe. Yeah. So, fine cotton was born on the 29th of November 1976. It was a veteran race horse and a genuine batler. In its 70 career starts, it had only won twice. In its previous race, it came 10th in a field of 12. Okay. So it had some wins in some dud races,

but two out of seven is not great. And I'm no mathematician. I'm not really into horse racing, but I don't think that's good. Yeah, you're right. I believe. I took a part there. I used to be, hey, good start.

I used to be riding a horse racing. Yeah. Yeah. And then you lost everything. Lost everything. My house, my car, my friends, my face. Yep. Had to get a new one.

That's a new face. And that's what you chose. Crazy. I didn't have a big budget. How much that face put you back? Well, in 1983 dollars, 78 cents. But today, that's 4.5 bucks. So, no regrets. Fair enough. When the betting opened, it had odds of 33 to 1, this is fine cotton. Meaning for every dollar you bet on it, you'd win 33 back if it got up. Whereas the favourite

harbour gold was the short price favourite. I think if you put a dollar on it, you'd win 33 back if it got up. Whereas the favorite harbour gold was the short price favorite. I think if you put a dollar on it, you might not even double your money. Oh right. Harbour gold. Harbour gold. That's a good name. That's a good name. I bet that one.

My favorite horse name ever is hoof-hearted. I get it. Like the horses hoof. Okay. At heart. But it sounds like hoof-hearted. Oh, it's like one of those double meanings. I get it. I get it. I get it. Like the horses hoof. Okay.

At heart, but it sounds like who fired it? Ah, it's like one of those double meaning things. Yeah, yeah. And it's better when you explain it too. Yeah, I agree. If I didn't get it before. Yeah. And then when I got it, after you explain it,

it was better. You're welcome. So much money was bet on fine cotton though, that by race time, it's priced short until around 4 to 1. So coming from 33 to 1 to 4 to 1 in the matter of a few hours. While the favourite harbour gold drifted out to 5 to 1. So now fine cotton is the favourite harbour gold moved in a second favourite. Ponders were backing fine cotton so heavily it was almost as if it was a different horse.

Because it was almost as if it was a different horse because it was. We're a big fan of the phrase, it was a different time. Yeah. But not from further phrase, it was a different horse. What you've got to understand is... It was a different horse. Okay. Yes, my grandfather said some problematic things.

It was a different horse. This is a pre-911 horse. Well, literally. They grew up in a different horse. Do you want to know what this story is? Are you intrigued? I'm very intrigued. You're saying it's not, it's changed odds like it was a different horse because it was a different horse. I'm fascinated to see how the logistics... Yeah, I don't know what that means, but I like it was a different horse because it was a different horse. I'm fascinated to see how the logistics... Yeah, I don't know what that means, but I like it.

Yeah. So we're gonna go back to around a month prior where this scam originated. It was a scam, by the way. It wasn't just like... Oh, spoilers. It didn't somehow just morph into a different horse. Humans made this so.

Humans morphed it into a different horse. Yes. And we came in with all of that. Yeah, we are. If we believe it into a different whole. Yes. And we came from all of that. Yeah, we are. If we believe in ourselves. We have the technology. That's my main takeaway message today. Believe in yourselves.

We can change horses. Full style. The scam was organized by a syndicate of colorful racing identities, all of whom are said to have loved a beer. Okay. I mean, if you didn't love beer, will they not let you into the scam? Yeah. Test number one. Drink this beer. No, I'm really more of a red wine kind of guy. Get it out.

Get it out. Next. The group was made up of its leader, John Gillespie, a small-time criminal who'd been in and out of jail throughout his life. There was also Robert North, the son of a wealthy Brisbane socialite, and he was also worked in real estate, and also making up the trio. A horse trainer and likable lad named Hayden Haitana. It's a pretty sweet man. Hayden Haitana. Hayden Haitana. I love that. Hait Turner! Hey, Turner! Fine cotton was thick. Hey, then, hey, Turner! You know, like that.

Really jumps out at ya. Yeah, he does. That's how he trained his horses. Yeah, he's a horse of the beast like, Tron along with him. Hey, and they're like, and they'd run faster. That's how horse.

On the other legs. Ooh! Ooh! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Fine Cotton was purchased by the group for $1,000, which was very cheap because it sucked.

And it already sucked, you know, it'd already been racing for a million. Yeah, $1,000 is cheap for a horse, isn't it? Yeah. It doesn't matter what kind of horse you're living in. It doesn't matter what. A thousand bucks, it's confusing now. A thousand bucks is cheap for a horse. Yeah. How does a horse go for?

A thousand bucks, it's the only horse I've ever known. Well, it's a price. I don't know anybody who owns a horse. Really? And you grew up in the affluent East. I assumed you all had your own horse. No, we lived in the suburbs. We didn't have fields, paddocks.

I would have thought you had property, acreage. Yes, acreage. Father, shall we go visit the horse this weekend? No, I didn't have a horse. Thanks for bringing it up. I asked you for Christmas. I had seven ponies. I just wanted one full horse.

Yes, seven half horse. Doesn't add up. Dad kept saying it dear, but it didn't. It doesn't. Seven ponies does not make a the horsemen. Doesn't add up, don't keep saying it dear, but it didn't. It does it. Seven ponies does not make the horse dad. That's what I'd say. That's what I always said to him. So they bought, fine cotton for a grand,

but they also had another horse named Dashing Saltair. That cost 10 times that amount. They? 10,000? Yes. Oh God, I mean, tick tick tick. What you didn't know is we ended up five minutes there, or I went out, did the sums, and went back.

10,000. We called a mathematician. Yeah. Like, Brent, can you confirm? Brent, just confirm. Brent, is that? Brent is our resident master. We've got him on retainer.

Hello Brent. Is that a mathematician? If you were to guess who dashing saltair might have looked like as a horse, who would you guess? File up. Mr. Ed. Fine cotton, an absolute dead ringer. They looked identical. Apparently you couldn't pick them apart.

What are the chances? So how would they know who was who? Did they put a bow on one of them? They put a bow on one. Yeah, some people when they have identical twins and they paint the toenails of one of them when they're little babies, so they can tell the difference. Did they paint their toenails? Actually of them when they're little babies, so they can tell the difference. Did they paint their toenails?

Actually, that's pretty, that does something like that happens that, yes. Pretty much, it does. I'm a genius. The two horses looked identical, but as runners, they were nothing alike. Dashing salt tails, a much more talented runner, and had formed that would have ruled it

ineligible for a race like the second novice handicap at Eagle Farm. Second novice handicap. for a race like the second novice handicap at Eagle Farm. Second novice handicap. You're cheating at the second novice handicap. What are you doing? But that's what the syndicate planned. Dushing Soul Tear was going to run as fine cotton, allowing them to back their horse at high odds and make a small fortune. So it's not about winning the prize money.

It's about betting on their own horse. Betting on a horse that's going gonna have odds of like 33 to one, but you're knowing that it should have much better odds. Yeah, right. Put a brand on you. How much you get? How much you get? Let me call Brent.

Get Brent on the phone. And we're back, 33,000. To ensure fine cotton was paying a big price, in the month leading up to the race, they overworked it on the track and ran it in other races. Something like nine races in 30 days. Oh, poor horses. many races. So it's like, yeah, like full animal cruelty stuff. If I work nine days in a month, I am exhausted. You know what I mean? Which you do nearly every month. Oh, I'm going to be fine.

I mean precisely nine days. Precisely nine. 10, 11, 5. No, no, no. Any more than nine. Really? I'm a wreck. I need a month off. So I work month on month off. You're a 5-o? Yeah. Comedium. Radio. Post-slesch comedian.

I'm a 5-o comedian. You gotta look after yourself, you know? Oh, you do. Nine days. Oh my goodness. When do you sleep? Unbelievable. Night time.

What was that? Oh, that was sorry. I thought you asked me a question. Night time. You was that? Oh, that was sorry, I thought you asked me a question. Night time. You last for nice. With each poor run, its price would get longer in the subsequent race. So I was ballooning out further and further as they went along. Hey, Tana, train the two horses. Hey, Tana! Hey, Tana! Whilst overworking fine-continue, quietly train dashing soul tear to be cherry-route for the big race. Unfortunately for the syndicate though, things came unstuck when dashing soul tear was

injured only a week before the race. Oh no. Cutting his leg on a barbed wire fence meaning it was unable to race. Oh no! From here the smart player would probably have been to a band in the scam. The three were meeting in a Brisbane pub when Gillespie phoned their financial backup, Mick Sayers, to tell him that they might have to call it a day. Sayers didn't take the news well, telling Gillespie,

if he bailed on the scam, one of the trio was going to turn up dead. Oh. One in three chance. That's great. Two out of three. Yeah. The odds are in your favor of not turning up dead. So yeah, worth the rolling of the dice. I'd take that. Well, they disagreed. So if someone said one of the three of us was going to get killed,

because I'll remind you this three of us as well, you'd be okay with those odds. Two to one. Let's play Russian roulette, like. Yeah. They're who's going to die. I don't think I am. I think you are, because I'm going to rig it. Ohlette like. Yeah. Who's gonna die? I don't think I am. I think you are. Because I'm gonna rig it.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. So I shouldn't have said that in the video. You shouldn't have said it in the video. Yeah. Can you add that out? I'm just joking.

I will. I will not tell Brent about that when he does the odds later on. So this is what Gillespie said. He said, he was at the pub, the striver at the pub. He went off, took this phone call, he said, oh, Say the pub, the striver at the pub, he went off, took this phone call, he said, oh, Sayers said, one of us is going to be dead. Apparently though, that might not have actually happened. Maybe Gillespie was making it up,

using Sayers as a sort of boogie man to scare them into going through with it. That's what journalist Peter Hoistead believes. Hoistead become like the kind of the expert on this whole scandal. He's written a book about it. He goes around touring, doing interviews about it. Touring. Touring.

He has 100 days a year. He's a touring journalist. But yeah, he's a long-term columnist for the Australian as well. Cool. So either way, whether that is what happened or not, they forged on with the plan. But now they need a kind of a plan B, because they didn't have the imposter horse anymore.

So they needed a new horse. Get some kids in an outfit. Yes, do they think that? Themselves. I reckon three men could outrun a horse. Yeah, three times the running of a horse. One horse power equals three man power. So I think that's, I think that's mathematically correct.

Yeah, I'll double check. Okay. So they ideally wanted another identical horse, but the odds of finding one proved to be difficult. Right. Because they couldn't. Not in the couple of days they had before. Horses like humans are individuals.

Yeah, they're all snowflakes. It's beautiful. Well, I know where all snowflakes. Yeah. It was like one time we went on a school camp to Outback Australia and there was a pub where people would put their licenses. All the pub was just covered in licenses

from all around the world. And of course, we're there, 17 years old. Gotta be 18 to drink years. Everyone's going, trying to find someone that looks like them to use their fat goat. That's so good. It's, as you said, the odds are really against it. Yeah.

That's so funny. I wouldn't have even thought of that. That's the kind of nude I would. It's a photo so small. A horse is big, you know? Yeah, true. And like you're looking at a photo on someone's ID, all you're seeing is like shoulders out.

Yeah. But when you can see what kind of hoops they have. When you can see a horse, you can see all of them. Yeah, their faces might look similar, but their tails might be similar. Yeah. That is very true. So they were on the look out for another horse,

couldn't find one that was identical. So that to buy one that they could get their hands on. And it was a horse named bold personality. Oh, that means he's a bit shit. He's an ugly horse, but he's got a bold personality. I didn't consider that, but yeah. They're really, really focusing on the other probably. If he's an ugly horse, then the other two are ugly horses too, right?

They look similar. No, this one, he does does not. It's particularly ugly. It was Basin-Cops Harbour, so they had to go up and drive it back on the back of a float to Brisbane. Like dashing salt hair, it was much faster than fine cotton, but unlike dashing salt hair, they were not identical. Okay. In fact, probably beyond both looking like horses,

they didn't have a lot in common physically, including size, colour that sort of thing. Size. Color. Yeah. I mean, both of those things are pretty hard to change. Yeah. I reckon you'd notice, I mean, to be honest,

first thing I had noticed is that it's a different colour. Right. First thing you'd notice is size, typical. Yeah, I'd be like, that horse is six times slush. This is the biggest horse in the world. You've chosen the horse that's in the Guinness Book and Records, and then you've tried to replace it with that. I mean, you've got to be quiet today.

You've got to be quiet today. You've got to be quiet anymore. Why did you choose Megatrot? This is the biggest horse of all time. This is a statue of a horse. It doesn't even move. Yeah, we put wheels on it. We do. It's going to be like a control, a stick. We'll put a Ferrari of a horse. It doesn't even move. Yeah, we put wheels on it. We do.

It's got a remote control, it's sick. We put a Ferrari under the hood. It's driving on the track. The prancing pony. Do a burn out. Can we have money now? Yeah, do we win? Do we win?

So the syndicate had a problem. The horses were different colors. Find cotton and a dark chocolate brown, bold personality, a much lighter brown. It's the most brown. Yeah, sure a much lighter brown. It's both brown. Yeah, sure. So many browns can be a bit. Basically the same.

To conceal this on the eve of the race, the boozed up trio made their way around Brisbane, clearing out chemists of ladies' hair dye. To be fair, it is easier to go darker than lighter. Thank goodness. So I thought I said be bleaching a horse, and that's not good. And then you've got to go like a toner to get the right kind of color. Going darker is a horse, and that's not good. And then you gotta go like a toner

to get the right kind of color. Going darker is a bit easier to be fair. Okay. So. So you're feeling good about this? No, absolutely not. But I'm just saying like, Foo, that's one thing they didn't have to worry about

was bleaching a horse. So they bought the entire city supply of hair dye. I don't know how dry around is buying four or five bucks, because they need a specific color and brand. So they just went around. I don't know if you big figure out. Yeah. Horse brand. Do you have any horse brand? Oh, you've got four or five boxes. Fantastic.

I wonder how they figured out exactly which color they needed. Yeah, I think they just probably got a box and held it up next to the horse. They walked the horse into the camera. What color's that? Yeah, you've got any of Claire old, that horse color brown? Yeah, we do actually. Actually, yes. We just got a palette full. That's the number four, no worries.

Anything else? There's women with brown hair in the city going, I'm not gray and I can't cover it. I'm not regrowth. Later that night, while standing many beers, the group set up a makeshift equine salon and gave bold personality a makeover Rubbing the hair dye and it's beautiful light brown coat

Before drinking some more and passing out As they awoke the next morning Bleary eyed and hung over. It feels like it's gonna end badly They went out to inspect the results of their dye job The site that greeted them wasn't good. Okay, as they went into the backyard at 6am, already with fresh beers in their hands, they were greeted by the sight of a bright orange-bowl personality. And it's bald. Yeah, now I get where the name comes from.

Something they didn't consider is that human hair and horse hair apparently is different and it reacts differently to hair dye. Somehow human brown equals horse orange. I think that's day one of hairdressing school. Is it the opposite? Is your beard horse brown? Yeah, I try to dye it horse brown and you know this disaster happened. Barrow thing. Yeah. I did not get to run in that race. Yeah. It was an unconvincing lookalike before, now, even more so. Yeah. So the world's biggest horse, and now it's a pride or it.

Apparently one of them burst out into laughter as they saw it. But it's the day of the race now. And they think, or at least two of them think that mix going to kill one of them if they don't win. Yeah, so like. Ha ha ha ha ha. Yeah. Laugh cry.

My favorite kind. Yeah, the only kind. Or a shower cry. Yeah. Or a shower laugh cry. No. Yeah, okay. Never that combination.

Yeah, I push it to you, but I'm so sorry. Unbelievable. They were running out of time and had to start making their way to the track. On the way, they stopped at Robert North's place, where they took bold personality out onto the front lawn to try and hose off its new color. They also had, at the same point, they had fine cotton with them as well, so they had the two awesome, just in case, at some point they had to do a quick swap back.

So they were always ready with fine cotton there as well, just in case. Why don't just die fine cotton orange as well? Oh in case. Why not just die fine cotton or in just well. Oh, that's good. Is it? In the past. Yeah, but, oh, yeah, okay. So if anyone goes, hey, fine cotton isn't orange, yeah, you use the real fine cotton that we will show you. Oh no.

I've said too much. So apparently they're doing this on the front lawn. So if anyone was driving past that day. Just seeing a horse in the front, getting hosed down. And it's a broad orange. Brought orange. So, it would have been quite a sight. Oh my god, this poor horse.

Luckily, the orange dye rinsed nicely out of the coat. And while wet, it actually looked quite like the colour of phone cotton. Okay, let's wet the horse. So, let's just keep the horse wet. We'll get a fire truck to drive alongside it. Constantly blasting it as it wins the race. That, see that, I don't know if they thought of that. If you were around back then.

I'm an ideas man. You are an ideas man. So they knew that the, you know, with time, the horse would dry and it would go back to the light brown. So their backup plan was to put a coat on it, you know, with time the horse would dry and it would go back to the light brown. So their backup plan was to put a coat on it, you know, like a horse coat. And just keep it covered until the last minute take off the coat when it's in the race. Hope to know and notice that. That's the plan.

And a good plan. That seems pretty reasonable. I like the good plan. And it's like the horse is a bit chilly. Yeah. 100. I mean, chilly. Why not just put think it's like the hoses of a chili. Yeah. And orange. I mean, chili. Why not just put it, just keep the coat on in the race.

Maybe just don't do the scam at all. Oh, no. Yeah, no you're right. Again, stupid amount. What's the effort in and train Fine Cotton to be better? Oh, yeah, they actually did the opposite of that. They tried it to be worse. Um, that wasn't the only problem.

Another problem, Fine Cotton had distinctive white patches on its hind legs, sort of like white socks. Well, personality did not. OK. OK. That feels like something you'd probably notice. It's a pretty obvious one. You're going to put socks on this horse.

Get put socks on them. Got a jacket. He's got socks. Yeah, he's ready to hit the tank. Oh, that's so cute. That's cute isn't it? He's even like rocking up the bathroom. I'm not no shoe sorry mate. Oh, I put socks on.

I guess I could. I'm actually quite dressed up for a horse. I think you're fine. Actually. Google a horse. None of them look as good as me. You have a horse in the fedora? Yeah, he's got a fedora. Yeah, he's got a fedora. Oh, he has horse. None of them look as good as me. You see a horse in the fedora? Yeah, it's got a fedora.

Oh, this horse is ready to go. Just red, black, I think the look, you know? Fedora, that's a dress up horse. Fedora bolt. Hey, myself for that. Oh, I thought it was great. No, you didn't. Don't you like it, man?

You're fedora bolt. So wet. Evan, could you put a fedora on Jess's head? Whoa. That's cool. You a fedora on Jess's head? Whoa! That's cool. You are fedora-boy. Thank you. This episode is brought to you by Progressive.

Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching saved nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Multitask right now, quote today at progressive.com Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates, National Average 12 Month Savings of $744 by New Customer Surveyed,

who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all safe and situations. Over the last 10 years, Bombas has donated over 100 million socks, underwear and t-shirts to those facing homelessness. If we counted those on air, this ad would last over 1,157 days. But if we counted the time it takes to make a donation possible this holiday season, it would take just a few clicks. Because every time you make a purchase, bomb us, donate an item to someone who needs it. Go to bombus.com slash lock-down and use code lock-down for 20% off your first purchase.

That's bombus.com slash lock-down code lock-down. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career in a rewarding field, with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including

the GI Bill. Now is the time. Mycomputercareer.edu. So they remembered that amongst the drinking the night before they'd forgotten to do anything about the white marks. Like, oh, that was meant to do that. We forgot. Whoops. But then in the front yard,

I can't even in the front yard. In the front then, in the front yard. I can't even the front yard. In the front, still in the front yard, Gillespie looks over and notice a can of white spray paint. He's like, ah, I mean, like finally. What's the chance? Why was it there? In the shed. Sure.

So he goes over with a beer in one hand, white can of spray paint in the other. He sprays the markings on a bold personality's legs. Fine cotton's right there, so I can make it look just the same. He's like, I know. Yeah, double thumbs up. Yeah. That's all we were doing with his thumbs,

it was just giving the horse leg thumbs up. Yeah, thumbs up to you. Mums up to you. Pick a job, legs. Again, thumbs up to you. Do you think this whole time You think the job leagues. Again, thumbs up to you. Did you think this whole time the two horses are talking to each other like, what do these two guys do?

I think I was lost it. Yeah. Yeah, I think that worked. Yeah. The white paint did not look good. It can't be safe either. Don't paint an animal. This horse, like honestly, they treated it so badly.

It was in a hot, sweaty trailer the day before, a long drive from Kofsarbit to Brisbane. Apparently this is something that our mate, the Australian journalist, talked about as well. Apparently it was so dehydrated when I got there, that I had to do this weird thing where they put a hose down its throat and just poured water straight into its stomach

to rehydrate it. Obviously that is horrific and also they want this horse to win a race. Yeah, so look after it. Yes. Everything about it is, yeah. It's like scrap people. No, but also so dumb.

Yeah. That's the main focus for this is that they dumb. I have this any point where you spray panning horse that you think. No I think that's my be like this is liven. This is just what I imagined my life would be. At some point you just be like I'm so deep into this. Yeah. You will not try anything. But it's funny because you get caught in those things or it feels like I've come as far I've got a full list but if you pull out at any moment and just scratch the horse, idiots aren't talking about it in 35 years time.

Yeah. Hang on, wait. He's saying where it is? Oh, I'm sorry, not us. The other YouTube web series about this. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know.

No, what's the conversation that this kicks Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, I'd dare to tell them. Tell your enemies. Tell your enemies close. Tell your enemies close. Share information with your enemies, day. You see the enemies, 12. Tell your enemies close. That was the part of that. But, uh, tell your enemies closer. One of the things I would buy.

For me once. So the white paint didn't look too convincing. So they, they go, well, I know what I'll sell this. We'll wrap the ankles. Oh, I thought you meant a lot. With bandages. I think I think that would work. No bandages, horse bandages covering the horses' ankles.

Still, this wasn't the end of their problems. They're like, all right, we've done a pretty bad job and the paint job will put a coat on it. The paint on the thing doesn't work, let's cover that as well. And you don't mean a coat of gloss? No, they put a hot, I can't do that.

I can, I know, we can fix this paint job, another paint job. At least I was here, because I had to heard a long time ago about this briefly, and that they painted. I'm picturing like house paint with a brush. Like a roller? I'm not sure, like a roller.

Cause like brush feels like it's too close to the texture of a horse. So it's just like brush on the brush. You get a horse hair brush. Yeah. So you just roll on. That's what they should have tested their dye on. Yeah.

But yeah, so if the socks, the orange paint job, that wasn't the end of their problems. All of a sudden, one of them realized they hadn't fit the horse with shoes yet. It was going around barefoot. Ah, doesn't that hurt the horse? Well, technically you put socks on before shoes, usually. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah, that's true. Good point, I guess. I don't know if it hurts a horse, because when do they put them on, they're gonna have to work on, because I mean, horses don't naturally have shoes. Yeah, that's true. Their feet are very hard.

I think horses who just, you know, caretin' or whatever, fingernail stuff, just... Yeah, right. I think they evolved. They used to be like feet with toes and it sort of evolved out of a nail, I think. Is that not true? I think that's true. Have an impulse. Can you put either true or false? I'm not sure.

Is it flashing on the screen? I'm not sure. So then it doesn't have horseshoes on at all. Doesn't have horseshoes on. You need a farrier. Yes. And they, apparently grabbed the phone book like, who's a farrier we know,

you can keep a secret. Because obviously we're bringing in someone in the last minute, they're gonna see this weird scene. They're calling Freddie's tight-lipped ferry. We don't tell those. I ain't no snitch. Freddie just put the shoes on the hook. I don't want to hear nothing.

I just can't put some shoes on a horse. I ain't seen a horse. I didn't see the horse when you see a horse feed, okay? I just put the feet on a horse. I need to see no horse. I need to see no horse when you see horse feed, okay? I just put the feet on the horses. I'm a butcher. What? So what's the sin? So they got a fat...

What do you mean? I never put no horse. I never put no shoes on the horse before. I'm allergic. I'm allergic to horses when I want to pursue the horses. I don't know why I'm doing this bit, but I love this character. It's hot, with Freddie, the Farrier, who's great. I don't even have hands.

How could I do that? I've never even heard of a horse before. What does it look like? What's a horse? That I can bend with wheels? I don't know. I could be what a horse? That I can bend with wheels. I don't know. I could be what a horse is. The bit with wheels. He's good.

He's good. God, he's tight-lip. He really throws him off the scent. I mean, he's not tight-lip. He just speaks gibberish until people... To be good. I'm losing truth. I walk away slightly.

Okay, we get it. Jesus. So they get the Farraham tight-lip... Freddie. Yep. And he realizes when he gets to, he get it, Jesus. So they get the Faroea round, tight lip, Freddie. And he realizes when he gets to, he's like, oh, I thought it was a harness racing horse. Is this a thoroughbred, is it? Like, yeah, I've only got, I've only got shoes for harness race horses.

And they're like, well, we don't have time, just chuck them on. Apparently they're quite different. They're made for very different running styles. But they were running out of time. Some more shoes are better than that. To win the race. Yeah.

And they're not really putting any actions into place to win the race. It feels a little bit now, everything you've told me, I would give them odds of 33 to one, which is what they had in the first place. Yeah. They've done everything to make this horse that's way better than the field, come back to the field.

He, like by the end of this, yeah, he deserves to be running in this race. I mean, if he wins this race, like he deserves to win. Totally. So, so he's now a recently orange horse with white feet and bandages. Must look like such a fool. This horse looks like an idiot. It's wearing the wrong shoes. It was badly dehydrated the day before. It's just it's not an ideal

preparation for a big second novice handicap race. So as ready as it was going to be and they were back off to the races again. Through all of this, F1 Cop was still there along with him and F1 Cop came along for the ride to the track. They just kept it out in the parking lot. That's sad. Well they could have a window. I guess so. He had he a name and now. So he'd be like, no, hang on.

I'm F1 Cop. Sorry, the horse wouldn't hear it's now pronounced, would it? Horse does know their names. Horse is no their name. Horse always knows. No, that's elephants and they don't forget. Anyway, a horse always knows. And elephant never forgets. A horse always knows its name.

I'm pretty never snitches. The three rules in life. Yeah. So somehow with the coat and the socks and everything, they get the horse through to this starting barit, no one brings it up, no one's noticed that it's a different horse. It can't have a size. It's different colour. Bandages.

It's clippin' in and cloppin' in the wrong way. It's got the wrong shoes. The other thing is, which I just realised, it's the horse race for losers, right? So imagine all these horses are covered in bandages, some are missing legs, they're all disheveled anywhere, right? So maybe that's how they're getting away with it. The perfect disguise. All these horses are second-rate horses, third-fourth-rate horses.

Yeah, yeah, they wish they were second-rate horses. Like, we dream of that. All morning, where'd it been spreading that something was a foot, and money was plunged on a fine cut like we said before. There are stories of all sorts of people having money on the horse, including members of Queensland Police's fraud squad. They were there on track. Hey!

You know, there was a different time. Apparently, Queensland Police was a wild time in the 80s. We're undercover, right? Anything goes. There's the Wild West in Brisbane in the 80s apparently. There was also a priest there putting on a huge bet's mobsters. They're all at the track cheering on the horse.

They knew to be a different horse. So he had a quite well known amongst the people out. The word got out and it just seemed to spread and it felt like most people at the track saw out in the new. Everybody was cheering on this orange horn. Fine cotton so it was race time now. Fine cotton began to race slowly but built up speed.

I guess at the start I was getting used to the new shoes, built up speed and ended up running out of its skin or at least for fine cotton. Oh you don't mean that. Down the home straight? Not literally no it, it kept it somewhat. I mean, in this story, I mean, if it had bleached the horse, it may have run out of skin.

You run out of skin, yeah. They realized during the race, oh, it was a snake all along. They put horseshoes on a snake. They've that dumb. I don't have snake shoes, but they've got horseshoes. Just pull them on, just pull them on.

We're like, we're gonna go, put them on. Where did he add snake shoes? Like, snake skin shoes. He's actually just a shoe salesman. Adorted or shoe salesman. Never seen a shoe in my life. So... I'm more of a flip-flop kind of guy.

Down the home straight, it was a race in two. Find cotton versus harbour gold. It was neck and neck. The horse was traded the lead. One then the other. Harba Gold, find cotton, Harba Gold, find cotton. Harba Gold is the favorite. Harba Gold was the favorite.

It wasn't fair and they dropped away, that's right. Yeah. Find cotton's kicky again on the inside. Find cotton and Harba Gold. Find cotton's in front, they're drawing to the line. He's just in front, find cotton, Harba Gold. Lunge right on the line, they hit it all. Giv us his close. But in the end, fine cotton, have a go, lunch right on the line, they hit it all, jeeves is close.

But in the end, as they hit the finishing line, fine cotton bobbed at the right time, winning the race. No. But anyway, I want to applaud, despite everything. I mean, that horse has been through a lot. Yeah. Yeah, true. Really, quite an amazing win.

Fine cotton, but not fine cotton. Yeah. As soon as the race finished, there were cries around the mounting yard. Ring in! Ring in! Ring in! Mayhem reigned in the betting rings here at Eagle Farm following the announcement of the disqualification of find cotton. The little-known Cough's harbour 8-year-old was backed in from 33-1 to start

7-2 equal favour. The racing stewards called for an immediate investigation. They should have already been suspicious based on the rumors and the bedding plans. But the white paint running down fine cotton's hooves probably tipped him off a little bit as well. No! He's melting, it's okay. He does this after every race.

That's fine. His little socks melt, that's why I'm bad, it's all right. It's all right, it's not shame or horse, okay? This is when you were saying painting the tone out, the friend I like, that is actually pretty question. The stewards requested Trina Hayden, Hectana, answer some questions, but he'd fled the track.

I don't blame him. Winning bets on F1 Cotton were not on it, and the race win was instead awarded to the second place Harbour Gold, as an official inquiry was open, Dave. So you were right, you said you would have put your money on Harbour Gold. Thank you. You would have won good money that day. Weeks later, Hey Tana came out of hiding to do an exclusive interview with 60 minutes. Weeks later. Amazing. Where he claimed he only went through with it as he thought his

life was at risk, saying a man threatened him with a gun. Hey Tana was found drinking in a pub outside of Adelaide around a month after the race and was taken back to Brisbane to face charge. It's apparently spotted doing some shopping they called the cops and they found him, traced him into a pub. Robert North, one of the other, the son of the socialite, he was also charged and both men were sentenced to a year in prison. Gillespie was on the run for longer,

but when he was eventually found, as the ringleader, he was sent to prison for four years. None of them served the full sentences, but... Right. Was really the charge, is it animal cruelty type stuff? I think it's fraud, sort of fraud-based charges, yeah. And yeah, I'd probably back then, the animals welfare, they were like, yeah, you can mistreat a horse, it's all tracing.

Sure, but you can't rip a horse or it's horse racing. But you can't rip off the punters. Yeah, especially when the fraud squad is in on the scam. Yeah, the fraud squad would have made some money and we didn't and now you'll pass. Yeah, right. You didn't pull it off properly, we're gonna punish you for it.

Totally. So you pulled it off, we'll turn a blind eye. The three sort of, they didn't get on all that well, especially our Gillespie and the socialite some north. I've seen interviews with both of them since North calls Gillespie a throwaway of a human being. Oh. And Gillespie.

I'll have to fully get that. It's just like, whatever. not, it's just like, whatever. Whatever, it's not worth it, it's not worth thinking about. Whereas Gillespie calls North a guy with the heart of a split P. Oh, okay. He said that when one of the phone calls

of one of the mobs has came through, North took the call and he had it over to Gillespie. Gillespie spoke to him for a bit and he turned around and North had fainted. That's the story he tells. It feels like it's all like they're just embellishing the stories in both directions. Do you think maybe he left out that they'd both been donating blood at the time? Yes. And he had not any jelly beans.

Everett, it happens to all of us. Yeah. Right? I've passed that during a blood test. That were it. That were doing a blood test. No blood. Work up on the floor. Hmm. Had to say, oh, I haven't had any breakfast. I didn't breakfast. Haha. You used a weak little boy. Yeah, I would have it. You've worked up on the floor. Is that when you fell from- fell off the chair? Fell off the chair. I was feeling funny and I'm like, I'm not going to say anything yet. No, you always say something. I'm going to lean forward and see what happens. Yeah. I'm going to try and anything yet. No, you always say something. I'm going to lean forward and see what happens.

I'm going to try and stand up. Actually, I might, I think I might go. Yeah, I've got it. So the main three guys all got prison sentences. They weren't the only ones to find trouble though. The horse got prison sentence. Oh, no. No, the horse is OK.

But a Catholic priest named Father Edward O'Dwyer was banned from racetracks for life after betting thousands on fine cotton having prior knowledge of the scam. And maybe most famously Father Sun bookmakers Bill and Robbie Waterhouse, you're familiar with the Waterhouses? Yes. Gay Waterhouses, husband and father-in-law and Tom Waterhouse's dad and granddad. They were banned from racing for life as well, and they were both bookmakers, so that was their livelihood.

Really? But they also were found to have made bets with prior knowledge, and then apparently lied about it under oath as well. Shit. Fourteen years later, that was overturned, so that I think Robbie Waterhouse maybe is still a on track bookmaker again? Yeah, I didn't know.

Wow, that's crazy. There are also stories floating around that certain people who were aware of the scam used it to their advantage. They assumed that the switch was always going to be uncovered. And some then used that knowledge to load up big on the original favorite harbour gold, who by race some had inflated odds. Yeah, right.

And you can't take away their money, though, can you? No, so they got paid out. You're a legitimate horse, wow. John Gillespie was one of these people. He laid a claim. He and Sayers, the guy who financially backed the plan. Yeah. The heavy guy.

Gillespie laid a claim that he and Sayers both made out with millions of winnings on harbour gold. And that that was, in fact, the plan all along. Gluspy later claim that he and Say is both made out with millions of winnings on Harbour Gold and that that was in fact the plan all along. Made out is funny. They made out with stacks of cash. Yeah, with a horse. Right, so they bid on... That's if you believe Gillespie and a lot of people say you can't believe anything

he says. He's a big spinner. But if you do believe it, he pulled off the massive double sting without the knowledge of his co-conspirators, Hey, Tana or North. In 2010, Gillespie told newspapers, he had, he had $1.8 million of winnings waiting for him once he got out of prison.

And he took that overseas and invested around different businesses in Asia through, yeah, two of the following decades. Others cast out on this version of events, including former Sydney Rae Stuart's Chairman, John Schreck, who said of the revelation, with great respect to Mr. Gillespie, anything he says, you would have to take

with a big pinch of salt. Not a grain of salt. A pinch is actually a little bit bigger. Yeah, a big pinch, you said though. Yeah. Big pinch is several grain of salt. Yeah, so it's actually a little bit more than your average grain of salt. Yeah, it's like he was trying to add extra emphasis in, or he actually diluted his point. A huge, you'd have to take it with a huge like a truckload of salt.

Yeah. Wait, what's your point now? I don't, I don't even fully. So yeah, it's hard to know, but it feels like Gillespie, you know, ego-wise, maybe he just wanted to be like, no, I'm not an idiot. I didn't do this huge dumb thing. That was the plan all along. The plan all along was that the other horse would win a dung. There's another story about a guy even higher than say in the underworld who had knowledgeable of this

and he used it to his advantage and made millions and millions of other. Right, but above that was someone else. Yeah, controlling him like a puppet. He was betting against it. Yeah, yeah, it's like a mission impossible, so everyone's just taking a mask off. Ah, did it all along.

I meant to make that horse orange. Horse takes a small stuff and it's Tom Cruise. You might be wondering what happened to the real fine cotton? Yes. Normally horses that have been involved in scanners like this apparently get put down. I think a lot of... Why?

What did it do? But I think that it's just like, it's name, it's reputation has been ruined. So just let it live on that fucking farm. That is the whole tracing industry is, they like, so many of them just, they end up getting put down. But what reputation are you talking about?

He was 10th of 12 shit house horses. Yeah. But now we know that that was because they were overworking it. Yeah. And purposely nine out of three days.working it. Yeah, and purposely. Nine out of three days. So it wasn't even that bad. That's the weird thing about it.

Why not just get a real shit horse? Just let it live on a farm somewhere. Well, you'll be glad. That's what they normally have to say to them. And that's what horse racing normally does. Just kills them off once they've no longer race worthy. But Hey Tana helped avoid this by hiding it on his way out.

He hit it at the Queensland mountain police paddock just up the road amongst the police horses. He just like let it, let fine cotton into the police horse paddock. It really was a crazy time for police, wasn't it? Basically hiding it in plain sight, which is my favorite way to hide something. And it wasn't until months after the scandal that they discovered

Fine Cotton was in there hanging out with the other horses. Mum! Because they're doing like, they can't count. And they're like, hey, we have legs for horse. Yeah, it's actually head of horse here. From then, Fine Cotton was bought by a movie producer named John Stanton, who apparently was the guy who gave the crocodile hunter his big break.

And we thank you for your service, John Stanton. You know what's telling when he sees it? That horse is going to be a star. That is totally what he thought. He also bought the rights to the story, and he was hoping to turn it into a film with Fine Cotton playing himself. That's not a horse.

This is a horse. Fine Cotton, his debut performance. As. Fine cotton. Things didn't pan out though and that movie never got made. Not yet. But all good things must come to an end.

Oh, no. And the Battlers Prince died in 2009 at the ripe old age of 32. So it did live a good life for a horse. Is that old for a horse? Apparently that's a pretty good innings. Nice. And for the ringing, bold personality.

So I didn't mention it before but when they bought bold personality, the syndicate bought it with a dodgy check. I've seen it. So they're like, we yeah, we weren't realizing we were gonna have to buy another horse now, so we don't have any money until we make all this money from the scan. So they wrote a check and said, yeah, catch that. But there was no money in the account. So when they fled, bold personality, luckily the Cops harbour horse owner happened to be

on track that day. So apparently a lot of the day they were like oh he's gonna notice so they had to like There was this scam within the scam of keeping his attention away from his old horse I'm trying to get a baby to take a photo like oh look keys It's not fun set get out the way I'd need to watch the horse race. No, no, no. He's a bunny, oh, bunny! They're giving away free pies. You like those, right?

That'll work for you, Dave. That'll work for you, Dave. It's my one thing. Tell I distract you always. So because of the check bounced, they never really bought it off him. So the original owner got him back, and he also lived a quiet life in his old age. Oh Oh yeah. But I think it was a super, like, it just ruined him as a race

horse. I mean, he never raced again, I don't believe. But he did die. But he did live a long piece of life, which is nice. And yeah, that brings us to the end of the story of the fine cotton scandal. The darkest day in Australian racing history, not really, but they said that in the papers at the time. They've done more fucks. Stop. This is a spin-off of our podcast, Do Go On, with over 200 episodes to listen to.

If you like this topic, check out some of our other sport, controversy-related episodes like The Malice of the Palace, The Montreal Screwjob, the Rumble in the Jungle, and that time Australian cricket and David Boone drank 52 beers flying from Sydney to London.

Subscribe for free on your favorite podcast app, and be sure to subscribe to this channel to check out our other videos. Now we're gonna take Matt away to get that horrible horse brown out of his beers. Oh, you gotta give that a good rinse. Ooh, rinse that off, you dirty boy. Get in the front, you dirty.

And then could you fix this in the face, am I? Maybe just put a horse on my face. Put glitter in it. Oh, glitter horse. Yeah, glitter horse, that'll be good. Thank you, Evan. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts

from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it planetbroardcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mites. I mean, if you won't, it's up to you. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now. You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Multitask right now.

Quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates, National Average 12 Month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed, who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discount is not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? there's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. you could enjoy a recession resistant career and a rewarding field

with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. you could start your new career in months, not years, take classes online or on campus, you.